Napkin-holder.



' PATENTED OUT. 22, 1907.

0. D. SMITH. NAPKIN HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1907;

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THE NORRIS PETERS co. WASHINGTON, n. c.

CHARLES D. SMITH,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF PARIS, ILLINOIS.

NAPKIN-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1907 Application filed February 26, 1907. Serial No.359,400.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES D. Snrrn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Paris,'in the county of Edgar and State of lllinois, haveinvented a new and useful Napkiml'lolder, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to improvements in devices for holdingnapkins, towels, or bibs beneath the chin for the purpose of protectingthe apparel of the wearer, and has for its object to provide a device ofthis character which composed largely of spring wire having anintermediate resilient portion that will enable the ends of the deviceto be separated in order that the device may be applied to the neck,clips or napkin attaching devices being provided at points between theresilient portion and its ends to receive and firmly secure the napkinor similar device.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain improvementsand combinations and arrangement of parts, all as will be hereinaftermore fully described, the novel features being pointed out particularlyin the claims at the end oi the specification.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspec tive view oi anapkin holder constructed in accordance with my present invention, thedotted lines indicating the position of the napkin relatively thereto.Fig. 2 is a detail view of one of the attaching devices or clips.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are indicated throughout bysimilar characters of reference.

The device shown in the present embodiment of my invention comprises anexpansible body portion composed, in the present instance, oi a singlepiece of resilient wire having a coil or convolution 1 formed therein,the ends of the wire crossing one another at 2 and extending laterallyin opposite directions and thence upwardly and inwardly, forming thefree ends 3 and 4, which preferably overlap or extend parallel to oneanother to form an extensible ring, the extremities of the 'free ends ofthe ring being provided with the rolled or enlarged portions 5 and 6 inorder to permit them to readily enter behind the wearers neck withoutliability of catching in the clothing.

Arranged on the annular body portion at points be tween the convolution1 and the upper free ends are a pair of napkin attaching devices orclips, these devices being so constructed and arranged relatively to thewire composing the ring that they will cooperate therewith to form aclamp adapted to receive the upper edge of the napkin or other devicethat it may be desirable to employ to protect the wearers apparel. Inthe present instance, these attaching devices are duplicates, and arecomposed each of a single piece of sheet material having sufficientresiliency to form a spring, one end of the attaching device beingsuitably secured to the wire by soldering and by rolling a portion aboutthe wire, as hown at 7 a suitable means being provided for preventingrelatively longitudinal displacement, a drop oi solder between the partsserving this purpose. Adjacent to the attached portion of each clip isprovided a bend Sforming a spring portion of ample length to affordsuliicie nt resilience to the clip, and beyond this spring portion theclip is provided with a clamping portion 9 extending substantiallyparallel to the adjacent portion of the wire composing the supportingring, and the lower free end of the clamping portion is form ed with anoutturned guide 10 providing an enlarged en trance between the clip andthe cooperating wire and adapted to facilitate the entrance of: thenapkin between these parts. It is preierable that these clips shouldopen downwardly, as this enables the napkin to be applied by a directupward movement, and it is suspended in proper position without doublingor folding it.

In using a device of this character, the napkin is applied thereto byinserting one of its edges into the opening between the wire composingthe ring and the outturned guide of the clip or attaching devices, anupward drawing action of the napkin relatively to the ring serving tointroduce the napkin between the ring and the clamping portion 9 of theclips, it being convenient to hold the bottom portion of the holderduring the application of the napkin by placing one of the fingers inthe handle provided by the coil or convolution 1, the portion of thenapkin between the clips being left sufliciently loose as to permit thenecessary separation of the ends of the wire ring in applying it to theneck of the user. With a napkin thus applied, the ends of the ring aredrawn apart sufficiently to admit a persons neck to the inside of thering, and when the ends of the ring are released, they willantomatically engage behind the wearers neck to retain the device inoperative position, the coil or convolution I permitting a relativeopening movement of the ends of the ring without permanently distortingits shape. The napkin may be removed very.quickly by holding the upperportion of the wire ring and pulling on the lower edge of the napkin, asthis will disengage the upper edge of the napkin from the clips.

A napkin holder embodying my present invention may be constructed andsold at a nominal price, for the reason that the expansible ring or bodyportion may be made automatically by a wire bending machine and theclips may be punched and stamped from sheet material and applied to thering by automatic machinery, and in use it serves to effectually supportthe napkin or similar device flatwise across the chest be low the chinin such a way that creasing or folding of the napkin is unnecessary, sothat the latter may be used a number of times, and it is spread to covera large area, the operation of applying and removing the napkinsrelatively to the holders being very easily accomplished. The devicewhile being Worn also presents a neat appearance because the entire halfof the ring or body portion of the holder below the attached ends of theclips is concealed behind the napkin, while the upper portion of thering is concealed largely by the neck, so that practically the only portions visible are the clips or napkin attaching devices, and by forminga closed coil or convolution in the ring to provide the desiredresiliency, a better action is obtained and the liability of breakage inopening the ring is minimized, for the reason that in separating theends of the ring the coil will be closed.

Of course, it will be understood that the device shown and describedherein is but one embodiment of the invention, and it is not so limited,as various slight changes within the scope of the appended claims mightsuggest themselves to those skilled in the art to which the inventionappertains, which changes could be made without departing from thespirit of the invention.

What is claimed is 1. A napkin holder composed of a strip of resilientma terial having its middle portion coiled to form a single convolution,the ends of the coil crossing one another and thence bowing outwardlyand finally approaching one another to form a loop having substantiallyrigid sides, the free ends of the loop providing neck-engaging portions,and a pair of napkin attaching devices composed of flat resilientmaterial arranged on the holder at points between the intermediateconvolution and the ends of the holder, both devices being arranged onthe same side of the holder and operating in planes transverse to theplane thereof.

2. A napkin holder composed of a strip of resilient wire having itsmiddle portion formed into a coil and its ends curved inwardly to formneck engaging portions, and a pair of napkin attaching devices arrangedon the holder at points intermediate the said coil and the ends thereof,each composed of flat resilient material having one end rolled about andrigidly secured to the holder, both attaching devices ektendinglaterally from the same side of the holder and opening toward the saidcoil, the free ends of the said devices being turned outwardly from theholder to form a guide for facilitating the insertion of the napkin.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES D. SMITH.

Witnesses:

L. A. WILKIN, W. N. BURT.

